Extraordinary new evidence of Britain's first human inhabitants

A team, including the Institute's Simon Parfitt, working on the excavation of an archaeological site at
Happisburgh, Norfolk, have
discovered some of the oldest human footprints in the world.

The very rare discovery, which is published in science journal PlosOne, is one of the most important archaeological finds ever made in Britain as the footprints provide direct evidence of the earliest known humans in northern Europe. Only three other sets of footprints, all discovered in Africa, are more ancient.

The prints, made by members of an early species of prehistoric humans almost a million years ago, were first noticed when uncovered by a low tide. The
team were able to capture the footprints (which were washed away shortly after they were identified) on video that will be
shown at the new exhibition at the Natural History Museum 'Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story'. The exhibition opens this Thursday, 13 February and runs until 28 September 2014.

"The mix of sizes shows that this was probably a family group, rather
than a hunting group, who appear to be on some sort of trail..... As well as the footprints, we have also found the remains of substantial numbers of animals...[and] more than 100 types of plant. This is allowing us to reconstruct, in considerable detail, the environment in which these early humans lived."